Battambang Provincial Court yesterday declined to charge two boys accused of raping a 6-year-old girl on Saturday in O’Romal commune, according to local authorities.

Chet Vanny, Battambang provincial deputy police chief, confirmed that the suspects, aged 11 and 13 years old, had confessed to the crime.

“The suspects admitted that they raped the girl at the straw pile behind the girl’s house and that the girl told her mother about the rape,” he said.

However, after being sent to court for questioning, the boys were not charged because they were below the minimum age of criminal responsibility.

“According to the Penal Code and procedure, someone under 14 years old cannot be charged or sentenced,” he said.

The court instead decided to send the boys to the provincial social affairs department for education before sending them back to their families, he explained.

Sorn Kosal, a Battambang police official, said the victim’s family had filed a complaint demanding police arrest the suspects and punish them according to the law, but that they had not demanded compensation.